The LTTE in brief

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), commonly known as the Tamil Tigers, is a terrorist organization that has been waging a violent secessionist campaign  against the Sri Lankan State since the 1970s. Headed by the ruthless Velupillai  Prabhakaran, Tigers fight for a separate Tamil state called the Tamil Eelam in the north and east of Sri Lanka.

LTTE was Founded in 1975, the LTTE attracted many supporters amongst disenchanted Tamil youth, who were dissatisfied with  policies followed by successive Sri Lankan governments towards solving various concerns of the country’s Tamil community. 

Thiruvenkadam Velupillai Prabhakaran (Tamil: வேலுப்பிள்ளை பிரபாகரன்; November 26, 1954 – May 18, 2009) was the founder and leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (the LTTE or the Tamil Tigers), a militant organization that sought to create an independent Tamil state in the north and east of Sri Lanka. For over 25 years, the LTTE waged a violent secessionist campaign in Sri Lanka that led to it being designated a terrorist organization by 32 countries. Prabhakaran was wanted by Interpol for terrorism, murder, organized crime and terrorism conspiracy. He also had arrest warrants against him in Sri Lanka and India.

LTTE & politics

The LTTE also has a political wing, but despite the ceasefire it has not tried to formally create a political party. Instead, in the 2004 parliamentary elections, it openly supported the Tamil National Alliance, which won over 90% of votes in the electoral district of Jaffna, in the Northern Province, although just 47% the total population cast their votes. The LTTE's commitment to multi-party democracy has also been questioned. In an interview in 1986, Velupillai Prabhakaran, the leader of the LTTE, said that a future state of Tamil Eelam would be a one-party state rather than a multi-party democracy, because that would help it develop faster.

Recruitments

-Recruits in the LTTE are instructed to be prepared to die for the cause, and are issued 

with a cyanide capsule to be swallowed in the case of capture. 

Child soldiers

The LTTE's use of children as front-line troops was proved when 25 front-line troops between the ages of 13 and 17 surrendered en masse to the Sri Lankan Forces. Amid international pressure, LTTE announced in July 2003 that it would stop conscripting  child soldiers, but both  UNICEF and Human Rights Watch have accused it of reneging on its  promises, and of conscripting Tamil children orphaned by the tsunami. Civilians have also complained that the LTTE is continuing to abduct children, including some in their early teens, for use as soldiers.Moreover UNICEF states that the LTTE has recruited 315 child soldiers between April and December 2006. According to UNICEF, the LTTE is known to be the world’s worst perpetrator of child soldier recruitment  and has recruited, since 2001, a total number of 5,794 child soldiers.